A mother whose son died twelve years ago
shared that there is a hole in her heart that will never heal.
Jesus taught: “whoever
wants to be my disciple must deny one self, take up thier cross daily, and
follow me.” What does Jesus mean by this?
First, it means accepting that suffering is a part of our lives.
Accepting our cross means we have to make peace with the fact that frustration,
disappointment, pain, misfortune, illness, unfairness, sadness, and death are a
part of our lives and they must be accepted without bitterness. As long as we
nurse the notion that pain in our lives is something we need not accept, we
will habitually find ourselves bitter—bitter for not having accepted the cross.
Second, taking
up our cross means that we may not, in our suffering, pass on any bitterness to
those around us. There’s a difference between healthily groaning under the
weight of our pain and unhealthily whining in self-pity and bitterness under
that weight. The cross gives us permission to do the former, but not the
latter. Jesus groaned under the weight of his cross, but no self-pity, whining,
or bitterness issued forth from his lips or his beaten body.
Third, carrying
our cross daily means accepting that God’s gift to us is often not what we
expect. God always answers our prayers but, often times, by giving us what we
really need rather than what we think we need. The Resurrection does not come
when we expect it and rarely fits our notion of how a resurrection should
happen. To carry your cross is to be open to surprise.
And finally,
taking up your cross means living in a faith that believes that nothing is
impossible for God. This means accepting that God is greater than the human
imagination. Indeed, whenever we succumb to the notion that God cannot offer us
a way out of our pain into some kind of newness, it’s precisely because we have
reduced God down to the size of our own limited imagination. It’s only possible
to accept our cross, to live in trust, and to not grow bitter inside pain if we
believe in possibilities beyond what we can imagine, namely, if we believe in
the Resurrection.
Lord, I pray for
all my Sonshine Friends that you give them the patience to wait and give up
their bitterness so that they we will take up their cross and believe in the
Resurrection.
